Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Colombian counterpart on the deaths of (a) Alicia López Guisao on 2 March 2017 in Antioquia, (b) Fabián Rivera on 2 March 2017 in Antioquia, (c) José Antonio Anzola Tejodor on 5 March 2017 in Meta and (d) Luz Ángela Anzola on 5 March 2017 in Meta; and if he will make a statement.

I last raised our concerns about increasing violence by illegal armed groups against Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) with the Colombian Ambassador to the UK on 7 February and the Colombian Minister for Labour on 14 February. She reassured me that impunity for such crimes is something the Government of Colombia will not tolerate. Ministerial colleagues and I will continue to raise our human rights concerns, including individual cases, with the Government of Colombia, as will our Ambassador in Bogota.